Returning to Primal Roots: Good to Great

by Craig D. Rocha, CEO and Principal

 

Steele Canyon High School opened during the 2000-2001 school year as a “research-based” institution called “a new school for a new century.” A beautiful state-of-the-art building (only part of which was being used); over 500 9^th graders comprising the total student population; a “barebones” staff; an innovative, university-style master schedule; rudimentary athletic programs and facilities––all characterized this new “outside-the-box” school that was founded upon the best practices of high-performing operations across the nation.

 

Today, just over seven years later, your school has grown and matured––in the process, having changed significantly. We’ve developed to become a comprehensive, full-service high school with close to 2,100 students in grades 9 through 12; several original staff members have left, with new colleagues arriving to fill new spots resulting from growth; administrations have come and gone; the Grossmont District has had three superintendents––our school four principals; athletic/co-curricular programs and their infrastructures are now much advanced; and just over four months ago, Steele Canyon became one of the largest charter high schools in the State of California and, indeed, across the nation!

 

All of this in about seven-and-half years! (I suppose that change comes more frequently when you least expect it!)

 

Thus, my charge to staff and to our current school community this year––our first year as an independent charter school––has been for all of us to re-embrace and refine the research bases of our original foundation––our “primal roots,” so to speak. By re-discovering our school’s founding principles, I believe that we can best evaluate and test newer practices in the future when achievement data show the need for such. Change is inevitable, but I believe that we can grow from “good” to “great” by nurturing our primal roots during the process of continuous improvement.

 

Below is a review of key beliefs and school practices that have characterized Steele Canyon High School as “a new school for a new century” since its foundation.

 

 

1. Our Quarter System Block Schedule

 

Gone is the traditional “factory-model” schedule of 6 or 7 classes at 50 minutes each with 36 to 40 students! Our academic year is divided into two 18-week Terms (known as “Term 1,” from August to December; and “Term 2,” from January to June). A year’s curriculum is covered in one Term (comprised of two quarters). During each Term, students take a minimum of three 90-minute classes called “blocks.” This university-style schedule allows for smaller class size, project-based instruction, individualized interventions for those falling behind, and accelerated learning for those students outpacing class requirements.

 

By focusing on three classes in depth during a given Term, students have the opportunity to delve more richly into the standards being taught and can then apply concepts with greater rigor. Our schedule is about depth versus breadth; it’s about competency versus coverage.

 

2. Common Curricula (developed by teams of teachers) and Common

Assessment (with calibrated evaluations)

 

This area is, and will always be, the “lifeblood” of Steele Canyon’s instructional practice. Teachers constantly review and study the California standards for their subjects areas; meet in grade level and vertical teams to develop results-based curricula enmeshed with these standards; assess student progress using the same tools (tests, quizzes, projects, etc.); then revise and upgrade curricula and teaching approaches as data reveal trends needing improvement. These research-based practices have been non-negotiable at Steele Canyon over the years. But in all subject areas of instruction, we know that the need for continuous improvement must nudge us to perfect common curriculum development and common assessment for even greater future results! Our charter health depends on this!

3. Full Inclusion

 

Steele Canyon adopted the practice of supporting special education students in the mainstream from day one, and our school has often been referred to as the “bastion” of full inclusion in the county. Full inclusion is a model based upon research concerning students of special populations and is a commitment to educate each child to the maximum extent possible. Full inclusion involves bringing supportive services to the child in the mainstream classroom and not separating special education students into cloistered classrooms. All services are taken to the child.

Our special education teachers (called “advocates”) work to modify curriculum (while not sacrificing the essential understandings of academic standards) so that students can achieve the same level of mastery as non-special education students. Our special education professionals also function as teacher/tutors who work with regular education teachers to scaffold the content of lessons for students of special populations. Steele Canyon’s learning results, by using this model, have been stellar.

 

4. Untracked Learning Environments

 

Gone is the philosophy of “you’re smart, so you study in this class; and you’re not, so you study in that one.” Steele Canyon was founded upon the belief that any student should have access to as rigorous a curriculum as he/she can master. From day one, we have operated from the context of an egalitarian, non-linear system in which students are expected to master state academic standards but are not held back if these are mastered quickly.

 

Accordingly, in a majority of subject areas, students are encouraged to extend and accelerate learning by choosing “honors” level work to maximize learning potential. (Similarly, Advanced Placement courses are open to any student who is willing to take on the challenge.) Except for certain subjects in mathematics, we have not adhered to the conventional model that pigeonholes or predestines students along certain academic pathways––with no exit possible! The fact is that students of varying proficiency levels in untracked classrooms are exposed to high academic standards, to differentiated instructional techniques geared toward the same high level, and to teaching that “stretches” student effort.

 

As educational pioneer Horace Mann wrote: “All children, like all men {and women}, rise easily to the common level. There, the mass stop; strong minds only ascend higher. But raise the standard, and, by a spontaneous movement, the mass will rise again and reach it.” (1837).

 

5. Unique Approaches to Traditional Subject Areas

 

Steele Canyon was established on contemporary research as to how traditional subject matters are best organized and delivered during this “new century.” I could share research foundations in this regard for every traditional subject area of our school, including math, foreign language, and the arts. However, in the interest of brevity, allow me to highlight four areas below which have become hallmarks of our unique approaches.

•Exercise and Nutritional Science (ENS) Model: Forget the old notion of P.E. classes (“Throw the ball into the air and watch kids play”). Our ENS model incorporates physical education with classroom-based lessons covering related disciplines of health and wellness, human nutrition, exercise physiology, and lifelong physical fitness.

•Humanities Model: In grades 9 through 11, students enrolled in any given English class rotate to an equivalent social science class. Teacher teams (i.e. one English teacher paired with one social scientist, and vice-versa) conduct these courses, intertwining and connecting the academic standards for both disciplines to produce deeper conceptual development.

•Physics First Science Model and Three-Year Science Requirement:

Steele Canyon was one of the first schools in the area to require three

years of science on the part of each student as a graduation

requirement. In addition, Steele was one of the first schools to adopt

the contemporary research (officially endorsed by the Executive Board of

the American Association of Physics Teachers) known as “Physics

First”––the science model that places physics at the foundation of

science instruction, followed sequentially by Chemistry and then by the

capstone course of Biology. Cognitive research has shown that prior knowledge of physics greatly enhances learning in Chemistry, and that knowledge of Chemistry buttresses learning in Biology.

•Technology-based Instruction: In all subject areas at Steele Canyon, computer technology has been a major foundation in support of student learning. PowerPoint presentations; internet research strategies; textbooks “on-line”; telematics for individualized and extended learning; accelerated math; and other technological components and skills––all remain critical components of an across-the-discipline teaching approach that enriches and sustains conceptual development for all Steele Canyon students.

 

In closing, I will repeat that Steele Canyon is in the process of moving from “good” to “great” as an educational institution. I believe that this process of continuous improvement will be enhanced and driven as all segments of our school community nurture, re-embrace, and refine the research bases of our original foundation––our “primal roots.” We must always remember that our unique and outside-the-box practices have made our school what it is today. By strengthening and refining these practices to perfection, along with implementing newer strategies when data show us the need for these, we will transform our very good practices into great ones––as measured by our results!